ROCKFORD - With its toughest competition down several starting wrestlers headed into Saturday's NIC-10 tournament at Jefferson, the league title appears to be Hononegah's to lose.

"It's going to be very hard to catch those guys," said Harlem's first-year coach Ryan Spears, who would not divulge which wrestlers were missing or why. "You can't afford to give up any weights against a team like Hononegah in a tournament like this."

The Indians are 21-3 in duals this season, and are ranked fourth in the state in Class 3A, while Harlem is 13-2 and holds the 16th ranking. Hononegah has won every conference dual with relative ease.

The Indians boast five ranked wrestlers, according to the latest illinoismatmen.com poll. Sophomores Fernie Silva (third at 145 with a 33-3 record) and Keegan Powers (fourth at 120 at 32-4) are near the top of their divisions, senior Zach Benkovich (28-6) is ranked third at 160, junior Tyler DeMoss (32-4) is fifth at 170 and senior Matt Jacobs (21-9) is 12th at 195.

Even if Harlem falls out of the running for the team title, the Huskies still expect to have plenty of wrestlers in contention for individual titles. Sophomore Jenner Hecox (31-4), ranked ninth at 160, will challenge Benkovich, and his brother Kailor Hecox (4th in the state at 25-2) will likely face Jacobs in a 195-pound final that would also feature two ranked opponents.

The eldest Hecox, Sage (28-2) is a favorite at 220 pounds, while teammate Tanner Anthony (25-7) is ranked 12th at 152.

Teamwise, the real battle will likely be for second place, with Spears listing Belvidere, East and Boylan as challengers to the Huskies.

Belvidere, just out of the team rankings at the Class 2A level, went 14-7 this season, but fell 67-6 to Hononegah in the teams' dual earlier this season. The Bucs have three wrestlers just out of the rankings, led by junior Christian Arias (20-6), recently bumped up to 120 punds.

Boylan will have the lone No. 1-ranked wrestler at the conference meet, with Alex Butler (29-3) taking the top spot at 132 in the latest 2A rankings, which is where two other locals sat in 10th - Freeport's Austin Anderson (22-3) at 106 and Boylan's Sean Barelli (23-7) at 126.

Wrestling starts at 9 a.m. at Jefferson with the finals expected to begin at 3 p.m.